Convene Parliament now says UNP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 April 2000, 18:19 GMT]Sri Lanka's main opposition party today demanded that the government should immediately convene the Parliament to debate the war situation and the fall of the Elephant Pass base. The United National Party (UNP) said that if the government refused to do so it will convene the Parliament at 10 a.m. on May 3.

A UNP spokesman said that the other parties in Parliament will be informed about this move.

The UNP's executive committee and Parliamentary group met today at Siri Kotha, the party's headquarters in Colombo. It was resolved at the meeting that a Parliamentary Select Committee should be formed to investigate the link between the Liberation Tigers and the government's Information Department and that the PSC should also inquire into the activities of the department's Director Ariya Rubasinghe.

The UNP said that the government should not extend the life of the Parliament by a single day but dissolve it as soon its term ends in August.

It was resolved at the meeting today to set up a committee under the party's general secretary, Mr. Gamini Athukorala, to examine the government's war strategy and another committee under Mr. Anura Bandaranaike MP to help wounded soldiers and to do the needful for the welfare of SLA personnel serving in the war front.